FY 2014 Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP)

Purpose: The FY 2014 TSGP is one of the Department’s FY 2014 grant programs that directly support transportation infrastructure security activities. TSGP is one tool in the comprehensive set of measures authorized by Congress and implemented by the Administration to strengthen the Nation’s critical infrastructure against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks. TSGP provides funds to owners and operators of transit systems (which include intra-city bus, commuter bus, ferries, and all forms of passenger rail) to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.

The FY 2014 TSGP plays an important role in the implementation of the National Preparedness System (NPS) by supporting the building, sustainment, and delivery of core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal (the Goal) of a secure and resilient Nation. Delivering core capabilities requires the combined effort of the whole community, rather than the exclusive effort of any single organization or level of government. The FY 2014 TSGP’s allowable costs support efforts to build and sustain core capabilities across the Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery mission areas.

Eligible Applicants: Eligible transit agencies were determined based on daily unlinked passenger trips (ridership) and transit systems that serve historically eligible Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) jurisdictions. Certain ferry systems were eligible to participate in the FY 2014 TSGP and received funds. Ferry systems that elected to participate and receive funds under the FY 2014 TSGP was not considered for funding under the FY 2014 Port Security Grant Program (PSGP). Likewise, any ferry system that elected to participate in the PSGP was not considered for funding under the TSGP.

Program Awards: DHS focused its available transit security grant dollars on the highest-risk systems through a competitive process.

DHS has identified critical infrastructure assets of national concern through the Top Transit Asset List (TTAL). Critical infrastructure assets are those vital to the functionality and continuity of a major transit system that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, public health or safety, or any combination thereof. With the creation of the TTAL, DHS can now target funding to the remediation of those assets on the list in an informed and risk-based approach.

DHS has also identified priority project types and placed them into groups based on their effectiveness to reduce risk. These groups have been prioritized based upon departmental priorities and their ability to strengthen security on a system-wide level, to strengthen security to critical infrastructure assets, and to reduce the risk of catastrophic events and consequences.